Starting A New Tradition

Pie and ice cream go hand in hand for me. If I have a slice of apple pie I definitely want a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I can be a traditionalist when it comes to eating over the holidays but I am all for trying new flavor combinations if given the chance.
 Well Ben & Jerry's own flavor Guru (coolost job ever!), Eric Fredette and their Assistant Manager of PR Shenanigans (that's her actual title), Kelly Mohr, saved us some creative energy and brain cells by giving us some ingenous ice-cream and pie pairings to indulge in over the holidays! Check out some of the creations they came up with!

 Pumpkin Pie with...
Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz :Think Pumpkin Spiced Latte, need I say more?
 Salted Caramel: Pairs great with warm brown spices and the salt gives a kick to the savory side of pumpkin.

Apple Pie with...
Cinnamon Buns : Uses the flavors the pie already has to add a cool creamy element to dessert Candy Bar Pie: Adds a little nostalgia to the holidays. The peanut butter reflects after school snacks with apple slices and peanut butter. Also more and more flavored peanut butter spreads are showing up on the supermarket shelves.

Pecan Pie with...
 Americone Dream: Adds a creamy and crunchy component to pie.
 Chocolate Therapy: The dark chocolate ice cream cuts the gooey sweetness of pecan pie filling. Chocolate pairs great with most nuts

Mince Pie with...
Cinnamon Buns: Cinnamon pairs well with the dried fruit and molasses flavors.
Salted Caramel: Salt is a really good complement to the stewed dried fruits that make up mince filling. 

Chocolate Cream Pie with...
Chocolate Peppermint Crunch: Chocolate and peppermint have been together forever, and they are still in love. The ice cream has fudge covered crunchy chocolate cookies that add a crunch the crust can’t match. Smooth, creamy, crunchy goodness.
 Cherry Garcia :Chocolate and cherries are great together. This pairing is like a box of chocolate covered cherries…only creamier….. with whipped cream.

Lemon Meringue pie with...
 Strawberry Cheese Cake :Sweet and tart in one bite. The lemon acidity of the pie brings out the fresh fruit flavor of the berries. Add the chewiness of meringue and the creamy ice cream and you have a great texture combo.
Honey Greek : the tangy greek yogurt plays well with the tang from the lemon filling while adding a creamy dairy note. Like crèma di limoncello, Italy rarely gets anything food related wrong.

I cannot wait to try a few of these over the next five days!  I think I'll be gunning for Chocolate Cream Pie with Chocolate Peppermint Crunch, Apple Pie with Cinnamon Buns and Pumplin Pie with salted caramel.  Let us know what combinations you try!

Two Wild and Crazy Pies!

I have always been a huge fan of Saturday Night Live from my childhood through my adult life. Improvisation and satire are a passion of mine and watching Saturday Night Live over the years makes me feel like I had the best comedic education. Ranging from Cheese Burger Cheese Burger with Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi to Gilli with Kristen Wiig.

Now Ben & Jerry's has come up with something "wild and crazy" to coincide with the 40th season of Saturday Night Live. Ben & Jerry’s fans are in for a “swinging” good time with the newest Saturday Night Live-inspired flavor, Two Wild & Crazy Pies. With inspiration from the classic SNL sketch starring Steve Martin and Dan Akroyd, which first aired in 1977, Two Wild & Crazy Pies combines coconut cream pie ice cream, chocolate cream pie ice cream, and adds in a scrumptious chocolate cookie swirl. This is the third of four unique SNL-themed Ben & Jerry’s flavors to appear at the company’s Scoop Shops nationwide.

This special flavor looks delicious! Luckily they didn't attempt to make something for Colon Blow cereal or The Bass-O-Matic. This flavor will be available exclusively at Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops across the U.S! Grab some Wild and Crazy Pies and watch your favorite Saturday Night Live Sketches!

T-Wisted Frozen Yogurt

There's a gem of a frozen yogurt shop in Sudbury. T-Wisted!

My kids love it. They love choosing their frozen yogurt from the choices on the wall. They love the bright pink dishes and the colorful spoons. They love the toppings to choose from. They love the bench covered in strawberries and the wooden cutouts they can stick their faces in so they can be an ice cream cone or a pineapple.

I love it. The flavors are diverse and well, it's a frozen treat! And there are toppings galore. Who doesn't like a sundae bar?

But aside from ice cream, it's the atmosphere. When my four year old was supposed to have a playdate at the park with the other twelve four-year-olds in her class last spring, but the weather prevented it, we moved it to T-Wisted. It w as a weekday afternoon, so the shop was quiet -- well, until we arrived. The staff was so accommodating to our baker's dozen of preschoolers running around their store. I had left my Scoopalicious business card there to tell them to look us up (and check back for their write-up -- sorry for the delay, T-Wisted!) and they took the time and used it to email me about a water bottle our group had left behind. It's those little things that show you that a business actually likes interacting with people that brings me back again and again. 

And their engagement with the community is unparalleled. They have a great product. They really do. As I said, the kids and I love the frozen yogurt. But it's how they have made their space a community space that makes them special. It's the free movies they show in the summer. It's the way they hold fundraisers and give profits back to the schools or community groups. It's the weekly raffle they boast on their home page to encourage residents to "shop local." It's the student artwork that adorns the walls and rotates out regularly. 

I like ice cream because it's tasty, of course. But as I write this, I also recognize that ice cream brings people together. In the summer, groups might suggest meeting for an ice cream. Crowds gather around ice cream trucks. While I have never heard of a "hot dog social" or a "cupcake social," I have heard of an "ice cream social." And I think T-Wisted has embraced this to the fullest. Perhaps they are our modern day soda counter -- bringing people together to create a community.

Thank you, T-Wisted!

*My apologies for the pictures. I thought I had better ones but all of the rest had kiddos running through and since they aren't mine, I can't use them! 

Dairy Queen Blizzard Battle: Pumpkin or Apple?

Are you Team Apple Pie or Team Pumpkin Pie?

That's what Dairy Queen asked Tina and I when they reached out to us about their Blizzard Battle! Though Tina and I are both pumpkin fans, when our contact offered to send us pumpkin or apple swag, we decided the best idea was for one of us to be sent pumpkin and the other apple.

So as you can see, I was sent a lovely package of pumpkin themed goodies, along with a couple of gift certificates to try the Blizzards.

to divide the swag though, so Tina got the apple swag and I got the pumpkin swag and we both got gift certificates to Dairy Queen to try the Blizzards. 

When I took my family, I opted for the smallest size of each of the two Blizzards so I could try both. Small is not, well, small. In this supersized world we live in, I shouldn't have been surprised. I don't think I could have finished one of the smalls, never mind two. Anyway, in the name of science, I ordered both and knew I wouldn't be able to finish.

As you can see at left, my girls thoroughly enjoyed some cones with rainbow sprinkles while I was there doing the hard work of research for our blog about ice cream.

And what's a trip to Dairy Queen without a crown?! (Actually, I think my oldest had been wearing that crown all day and it was pure coincidence that she was wearing it...!)

And in the end? Surprise! I was totally Team Apple! I loved the flavor and the cinnamon-y pieces of pie crust mixed in.

I wonder what Tina will choose as her favorite? Do we have to switch gear? Here's the swag that Tina got in the mail -- but last I heard she hadn't made it out to DQ yet to actually try it out! Tina...we'll be waiting!

And readers, we'll be waiting! Enjoy your autumn -- if you are a pumpkin and/or apple fan like we are, this is your season!

Both Apple and Pumpkin Blizzards are wonderful. I do suggest you head out to try them out before the season ends!

The Only Ice Cream Recipe You'll Ever Need?

My dad sent this link to me the other day. Titled "The Only Ice Cream Recipe You'll Ever Need," it immediately caught my eye. I finally got to watch it. I have three cups of black raspberries in my freezer and I just watched the video (see below) and checked out the recipe to see if this is how I want to use my raspberries.


Frankly, I am not sure.

I have a recipe I love. It's from The Ultimate Frozen Dessert Book by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. It's the recipe they have for Raspberry Gelato, which I have altered slightly. It's gorgeously colored and amazingly tasty.

That being said, I do want to try this recipe, if only to see if it lives up to its hype.

But to waste this season's only three cups of black raspberries on something I don't know to be good, when I have something completely trustworthy on my bookshelf?

I think I'll visit this recipe again with something not so "precious" to me.

I'll report back when I do try that recipe.

In the meantime, do follow through with watching the video -- it's really quite informative -- and head on over to the article for a great chart. Melissa Clark gives her viewers/readers the basics and the rules and then invites them to break them and adjust accordingly. That's fair and worth some experimenting with (albeit with some less precious commodities)!

Rocky Road: The Movie

Yes, seriously. A movie called Rocky Road about ice cream! We like ice cream and we like movies, that's why we were pretty excited to hear about this new flick.

Sunday, July 20 is National Ice Cream Day and also the premiere of UP's original Rocky Road. Head over to your UP channel and tune in at 8PM. 

We can't tell you how it will be, but it looks like a sweet (yes, pun intended) story about a wall street banker who gets laid off, moves home, and drives an ice cream truck. Could be kind of cheesy, but it's ice cream and movies and it's on the UP network, which means it promises to be "uplifting." (Don't know what UP is? I didn't either. Check it out here.) I'll try to catch it, because if it makes you happy, even cheesy can be good!

And it stars Mark Salling of Glee fame, if that catches anyone's fancy.

But as LaVar Burton would say, "You don't have to take my word for it!"* Check out the preview below.

*On a non-ice cream note, if this quote is lost on you or if brings back fond memories, head over to Kickstarter to see how Burton is bringing his signature line! Whee!

Brigham's Sundae-in-a-Box Giveaway Winners!

We have chosen our winners for the Brigham's Sundae-in-a-Box Giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who entered and if you didn't win, don't worry, you can still head over to Brigham's to vote for the flavor you'd like to see make a comeback as well as share your favorite memories and enter for a chance to win a Brigham's ice cream scoop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winners will be notified by email with instructions on how to claim your prizes.

A big thank you to Brigham's for sponsoring the giveaway and Happy 100 Years!

Brigham's: Coffee

Since a bunch of people tried Brigham's Coffee Ice Cream, I am just going to compile the quotes:

"It's coffee." (Yes, I have very insightful friends...)

"It's a good base for toppings."

"It's a mild, generic coffee [flavor]."

"It's great for toppings."

"It's great with hot fudge."

"It doesn't even really taste like coffee, which is a good thing because I generally don't like coffee flavored anything."

"I liked it. It wouldn't be my first pick, but I'd eat it."

"Both of these are really good." (From my mom, who tried both the Coffee and the Mocha Almond.)

By the way, after complaining that two of my stores only had limited flavors, today I stopped at a more local store and hit the motherlode. It was all I could do to not buy all of the flavors. I settled on Paul Revere's Rocky Ride. I'll report back when I try it!

Don't forget, only one more day to vote for your favorite retired Brigham's flavor for a chance to win one of ten prizes of a Sundae-in-a-Box from Brigham's!

Brigham's: Mocha Almond

I brought Brigham's Mocha Almond for my husband. I wasn't expecting to like it, but like all ice cream, I'll try it.

Clearly, it was well loved by my husband.
And he's true to his word. He ate a lot of it!

I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't bitter at all. It was quite mild. Those who really like coffee might be disappointed. I don't like coffee, but it wasn't too coffee-y! I tasted the chocolate and maybe some coffee (but not enough to bother me) and I loved crunch the almonds added (and I am also not nuts over nuts in my ice cream...)

My husband reported that "It wasn't as strong as I thought it would be, which just means I'll eat a lot of it!" He also noted that he liked that it abbreviated to MA, just like Massachusetts! (He's a little silly, sometimes.)

My mom tried it as well, simply reporting that "Both of these are really good!" (Stop by tomorrow for the other flavor she tried!)

Would I buy it again? For me? No. (There are just other flavors I'd prefer.) Would I steal some from my husband's carton? For sure!

Don't forget to vote for your favorite Brigham's flavor to return to production!

Brigham's: Peppermint

I told you in yesterday's post that there were very limited Brigham's flavors when I went to the store, and almost the same (limited) flavors when my husband went to a different store. However, coupon in hand, my husband thought he should get me something. Since we already had two of the flavors at home, and he wanted something a little more exciting than chocolate or the other vanilla, he had Salted Caramel Crunch and Peppermint Stick to choose from.

I am not sure he knows me too well. He brought home the Peppermint Stick. While I like mint chocolate chip, the idea of Peppermint Stick does nothing for me. And every Christmas I try to be all festive and eat a candy cane. And I hate them.

The trooper that I am when it comes to ice cream, I tried it. The ice cream was pretty -- white with bright red spots mixed throughout. The was mellow and sweet and very enjoyable. What I didn't like was the end -- the aftertaste of candy canes.

But this is me. I already said I don't like candy canes. But if you like candy canes, this sure is the flavor for you. And even if you don't like candy canes, it would probably be a good date ice cream, because it leaves your breath minty fresh!

Long story short, it wasn't bad. It was good. It just would have been better had I actually liked candy canes.

And if it were out of production, it wouldn't be the one I voted to bring back. Speaking of which, did you vote to bring back a Brigham's flavor? Do it while you still can! And then head back over to Scoopalicious, let us know which flavor you chose in our comments section, fill out the Rafflecopter form, and be entered to win one of ten Sundaes-in-a-Box!

Brigham's Sundae-in-a-Box Reminders

Just a few notes for our readers!

1. There is still time to enter to win a Sundae-in-a-Box courtesy of Brigham's Ice Cream. Please head over to our post from Sunday to see how to enter! Raffle ends at the end of the day on Saturday, so don't wait!
2. Since the Sundae-in-a-Box includes a coupon for Brigham's Ice Cream, which is only available in New England, this giveaway is only open to readers in ME, NH, VT, MA, CT or RI. However, if you wish to play and you are not in one of these states, you may request that we send your prize to a friend or family member in New England. Good luck!
3. Please be sure to leave a comment AND fill out our Rafflecopter form so you are eligible to win. If you haven't done one or the other, please feel free to go back in and do so!

Thanks for playing!

Brigham's: Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

As you can see from my post on Sunday, my Sundae-in-a-Box arrived from Brigham's last week and with coupons and toppings, so I told my daughter (V) we were having sundaes for dessert and we headed to the store to pick up ice cream.

I really like Brigham's ice cream, despite the fact that they keep getting rid of my favorite flavors.

Vanilla Bean, plain and simple. And that's not a bad thing.

What I don't like is the limited stocking at my favorite stores. I went to my local Shaw's and I had the following flavors to choose from: Chocolate, Vanilla, Vanilla Bean, Mocha Almond, Coffee, and Peppermint Stick. My husband went to our local Price Chopper and he found Chocolate, Vanilla, Vanilla Bean, Salty Caramel Crunch, Coffee, and Peppermint Stick. Yes. Seven limited flavors total in two stores -- only one flavor wasn't the same in each store. I don't like coffee flavoring and I don't really like candy canes, so that left me with vanilla, vanilla bean, and chocolate to choose from on my trip.

At the store, I knew I was on a mission to write four flavor review posts, so I bought three of the flavors, just in case I didn't get out in the next couple of days to buy more ice cream (the horror!). I chose Vanilla Bean and then, being the good wife that I am, Coffee and Mocha Almond for my coffee loving husband. (He has to review them though!)

I guess truth be told, I think vanilla is the best base for a sundae.

First I tried the Vanilla Bean alone. It was nice and light, and had a nice vanilla flavor. It was creamy and had the beautiful specks of Vanilla Bean in it. It did not compare to my favorite vanilla ice cream...Brigham's no-longer-existing French Vanilla. It did not have that rich custard flavor I loved in the French Vanilla. But that aside (since it's not one I can bring back with Brigham's flavor contest) the Vanilla Bean was really a nice flavor and made an excellent base for sundaes.

V was not complaining. (See her sundae at left)...

Nor was I when I had it plain or a few days later topped it with peanut butter sauce and whipped cream.

Well done, Brigham's!

Want to try this flavor or another Brigham's favorite? Head over to our post from Sunday and enter to win your own Sundae-in-a-Box from Brigham's!

Brigham's: What's your memory?

Part of Brigham's 100 year celebration is a "memory look-book" on their website.

“When consumers think of Brigham’s, they think of butterscotch sundaes and enjoying time with family,” said Lynne Bohan, spokesperson for Brigham’s Ice Cream. “We are so excited to encourage consumers to share those special moments with us during our 100th anniversary year.”

Here's my first Brigham's memory...

It may have been The Big Dig I went home with.
Or maybe not. Whatever it was, it was good, and got
me hooked. (Image courtesy of www.brighams.com)

My first experience with Brigham's was at the Scooper Bowl thirteen years ago. I lived in Boston's North End. I was just leaving the Scooper Bowl after attending with my co-interns from Houghton Mifflin, and a woman walked by with a container of Brigham's. She told me the people at the Brigham's booth had given it to her, but there was no way she was making it home without it melting -- would I like it? Government Center where the Scooper Bowl was being held was a short walk from my North End apartment, so I gladly carried the container home. I'd like to be able to tell you I remember the flavor, but I can't. I can tell you that by the time I got home, it was perfectly softened, and dinner that night was my first (and perfect) taste of Brigham's Ice Cream. 

I'm smiling and thinking of dear friends as I remember other times...eating at the Brigham's in the Financial District or eating Brigham's on the newly developed Greenway when I worked downtown. I also remember some great birthday parties over Brigham's ice cream cakes in the office where Tina and I met. (Those were some of our favorite days there, huh, Tina?!) That cookie crust was to die for. I think Tina and I may have sealed our friendship over that cake and our shared love of ice cream!

I'm kind of wordy, so my memory doesn't fit on their form, but make sure yours does so you have a chance to win an ice cream scoop from Brigham's!

While you are there, vote for the ice cream flavor you'd like Brigham's to bring back, then swing back over to our post from Saturday to leave a comment telling us which flavor you voted for and fill out our form for our rafflecopter giveaway for a Sundae-in-a-Box!

Happy 100 Years, Brigham's Ice Cream!

My assistant helps
me open my
Sundae-in-a-Box!

Scoopalicious is pleased to be part of the celebration as Brigham's Ice Cream celebrates their 100th Anniversary!

Brigham's announced that "since 1914, Brigham’s has been Boston’s favorite ice cream and a part of countless memories. Today, its rich, creamy flavor continues to be enjoyed in homes across New England more than ten decades later."

Brigham's is celebrating in their own way with an online "memory look-book" and a chance to vote for your favorite Brigham's "throwback flavor" to be announced in July and brought back into production in 2015!

Lynne Bohan, spokesperson for Brigham’s Ice Cream, explains why Brigham's is asking it's loyal customers to be the ones to choose which flavor will be revived: “Brigham’s has always loved introducing great flavors like Reverse the Curse to consumers. Now is the public’s chance to be a part of the tradition and vote which of their beloved flavors should be brought back to life.”

We at Scoopalicious are also partnering with New England's beloved ice cream company with some flavor reviews and ten Sundae-in-a-Box giveaways!

Let us know what flavor you voted for and be entered to win one of ten Sundaes-in-a-Box!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check back in this week for some of our thoughts on Brigham's flavors and some of our own Brigham's memories!

        

For more information about the 100th anniversary visit www.brighams.com.

Honeycomb Pieces and Chocolate Brownie Fudge Cubes

Last month we got an email from someone at yolli.com asking if we'd like to try out their confectionery supplies. I'd never heard of them, so I followed the link, perused the site, and found they had ice cream supplies. But of course we would!

The site is out of the UK and so there were actually some items they were offering for sale that I had never heard of, including honeycomb pieces.

I asked my contact if she would mind sending me the honeycomb pieces and the chocolate brownie fudge cubes. She kindly obliged and a few weeks later I came home to a package of ice cream mix-ins.

I doubled a nice chocolate base from The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato and Sorbetto: Bold, Fresh Flavors to Make at Home, divided the base, and froze each half with each of the mix-ins so I could try them out.

The honeycomb pieces, to begin with, aren't honeycomb or honey at all. Upon further research, I found these honeycomb pieces are actually a crumbled version of a type of toffee also known as sponge toffee or cinder toffee. Honeycomb toffee is a mix of sugars and baking soda, giving it a very airy feel, and a spongy or pumice-y look, as one might imagine. It somewhat reminded me of peanut brittle without the peanuts. It was sweet with a hint of that baking soda taste.

Mixing it in had interesting results. When I took the ice cream directly out of my machine, the honeycomb pieces had a nice crunch to them in the ice cream. However, after I put the ice cream in the freezer to ripen, and then scooped some, the honeycomb had dissolved, leaving only darker, sweeter spots of chocolate (see picture.) It wasn't bad, just not much of anything.

I suppose in the future I would suggest either putting them in ice cream you are going to eat right out of the machine or using them as a topping for interesting texture. (And as an added note, do not leave the remaining bag of honeycomb pieces on the counter for your three-year-old daughter to find and poke at while asking "what is this?" unless you want to be left with honeycomb powder!)

The fudge bits didn't do as much for me. They kind of reminded me of Tootsie Rolls. They gave a nice chewy texture to the mix-ins, but overall the taste wasn't too exiting to me, and the chocolate flavor wasn't as chocolately as the ice cream actually was, which was surprising with the fudge name.

Final verdict? While Yolli isn't known for it's ice cream supplies, but more for it's candy making supplies, I am not sure they would be my first stop shop for ice cream making, but I certainly wouldn't discount them for candy making. (Quite honestly, when I first went to their site, I was wishing I had a candy or baking blog so I would have an excuse to ask for samples of the cookie cutters or candy floss (aka. cotton candy) supplies or many of the other various supplies (ah, in my next blog/lifetime).

Thank you Yolli for the fun supplies and the excuse to make some new and interesting ice cream flavors! And P.S. your site is incredibly fun and bright and makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop!

Get Ready for the Scooper Bowl, Boston!

We haven't been as good at posting as we would like (and we hope this changes as it usually does in the summer!), but didn't want to forget to remind our Boston friends that next week is the Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl. (Non-Boston friends, too -- there's still time to get here to Boston for the biggest ice cream event of the year!)

The event runs from Tuesday, June 3 through Thursday, June 5 from noon to 8 p.m. every day at City Hall Plaza, Boston.

Read some of our previous posts here to get motivated for the event -- as if all-you-can-eat ice cream isn't enough of a motivator!

Indulging in Indulgences

I was recently able to take some time off and escape to Florida for a few days. After a rough winter, a beach vacation with good friends, cocktails and delicious food was just what I needed.

While on vacation we received a special delivery of Breyers Gelato Indulgences. The package included all four of Breyer's new Gelato Indulgences flavors; Vanilla Caramel, Rasberry Cheesecake, Tiramisu and Triple Chocolate.

With six days of vacation I was able to spend qaulity time with each of these flavors. All of the Breyers Gelato Indulgences are rich and creamy but the texture is light as if it's whipped. Each flavor looks like it's hand crafted since there seems to be a personal touch to all of the flavors, like the chocolate shavings on top of the Triple Chocolate or the crumbled graham cracker on the Rasberry Cheesecake. The first thing I did was take a little spoonful of the Rasberry Cheesechake with a little graham cracker topping...The rasberry swirl had a delicious tartness that was perfectly balanced with the creamy cheescake flavored ice cream. The graham cracker topping has a nice texture. Whether it's an actual cheescake or this Gelato, I always want more graham cracker! The triple chocolate is rich but not too heavy. You can distinctly taste the difference between the dark chocolate and milk chocolate. The white chocolate swirl and chocolate shavings bring this flavor to a whole new level.

I was wary of the of the tirimisu because although the ingredients (delicate mascarpone gelato, decadent espresso sauce, ladyfinger cookie pieces and gourmet cocoa) sounded delicious I thought it was going to be too much. Luckily I was completely wrong. This tirimusu gelato let me feel like I was on vacation. Looking out over the ocean while having a bowl full of tirimisu gelato was heavenly. The tirimisu gelato felt as if each layer of the delicious tirimisu dessert was in every bite of this gelato. The Vanilla Caramel was also surprisingly not as rich as I thought it would be and perfectly creamy and flavorful.

I was incredibly lucky to be able to take this trip and to have the opportunity to try all of these new delicious flavors. Whether you're on the beach in florida or you need to put your feet up after a long week of work I would definitely suggest trying the new Breyers Gelato Indulgences.

Thank you to my special friends at Unilever for sending me this wonderful treat!

Breyer's Toppings

Wow! It's good to be back posting! Our new team member Patrick inspired us to get back to it and in the process we found this post written but erroneously never posted! Our apologies. Sometimes life gets in the way of ice cream! Well, at least in the way of writing about ice cream. We usually have room for ice cream!

We can't believe it has taken us this long to write about the adorable box of Breyer's Toppings we got in the mail, way back, in well, um...well, we am too embarrassed to admit how long it took to write this post.

To begin with, in general, I think sprinkles are okay. I don't love them. I have to have rainbow ones on a dish of vanilla carvel and chocolate ones on a black raspberry ice cream cone, but other than that, I don't opt for them. I think they are waxy and boring and leave a yucky coating on my mouth. Until now. Enter Breyer's sprinkles. Best I have ever had. In fact, so good they are dangerous. I sometimes find myself eating them by the spoonful, no ice cream required. Seriously good. They are sweet without being too sweet, and crunchy, not chewy. And the chocolate ones actually taste like, well, chocolate!

The only problem? I have never ever seen them on the shelves of a store. And I have looked at my Shaw's, Stop & Shop, Target, Sudbury Farms (local), and Price Chopper. Never. I just see those waxy, yucky ones. Their site says they are at all Walmarts, some Targets, and at grocery stores nationwide. Not mine. (Well, I don't have a Walmart near me, so that doesn't count.) For now I am hoarding my sprinkles.

I also LOVED the fruit toppings. I particularly liked the cherry, and look for all excuses to use it. The topping tastes fresher and less bottled than most other jarred fruit toppings I have tried.

Tina was lucky enough to get the same package and she raved about the caramel and chocolate toppings having great textures and not being too rich. And instead of fighting with some hard plastic bottle to eek thick fudge out of the toppings come in a squeezy tube which make them easy to pour plus super easy for kids too who love to douse their sundaes in toppings. A+ for clever packaging of not only product but the overall branding.

Try yours today!

Added bonus: the presentation from Breyers was also great -- what a fun treat (no pun intended) for designers and ice cream lovers to get in the mail. Thanks, Breyers!

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Flavor

I recently traveled up to Vermont to spend some time with the Ben & Jerry’s team. There are many things that I would like to share with Scoopalicious readers about my Ben & Jerry’s trip but a personal high of my ice-cream expedition was being able to compete with and against fellow food bloggers to create a new Ben & Jerry’s flavor. We were broken up in to teams of three and four in order to start our brainstorming. My group consisted of New Yorkers so we decided to create a New York centric ice-cream. Originally we wanted to have a donut flavor ice-cream with dark chocolate covered matzo but we didn’t realize that we would be given a list of options based on their immense inventory (How could they not have chocolate covered matzo?!).

Once we entered the test kitchen and met flavor Gurus Jon and Peter we went to work on creating our flavors. There was a true sense of competition as we were informed that the winning team would be able to have individual ice-cream socials at their Ben & Jerry’s of choice where their ice-cream would be served! Our team decided that coffee was a driving force for the New York crowd. There was an option to add liqueur so why not make it a coffee liqueur flavored ice cream! Our Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Guru, John, was scientific with testing the potency and flavor of the coffee liqueur in the ice cream. The stakes were high so we had to take sips of liquored up cream to determine how strong of a flavor we wanted. Once flavor content was determined we started making the ice cream in a large machine while we started to play with the ingredients. It was decided that our flavor would be called Cuppa Cawfee (you have to say it with a thick New York accent)

Since there wasn’t any matzo, Jon had us try dark chocolate chunks and espresso dark chocolate chunks. The team decided that the espresso chunks might be too intense since the ice cream itself had a coffee flavor, so we decided on dark chocolate. Next up was a chocolate covered almond crunch which we thought would add a unique flavor and texture. Last up was a chocolate fudge swirl to top things off.

Once the ice cream was finished being made in the machine our team was able to fold the ingredients in to the ice cream and fill pints to be frozen for the competition to be held later that day. Next up we had the opportunity to meet with the marketing department and create a poster with the graphic designers. Kathy from Ben and Jerry’s was incredibly sweet and a good sport considering how intent we were on winning the competition. We spent a lot of time trying to create a New York City backdrop with Woody (Woody is the iconic cow used for a lot of Ben and Jerry’s advertising). We decided on a scene where Woody was holding a coffee cup of ice cream while standing in front of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The competition was ready to commence. There was some fierce competitors with such flavors as 40 Weeks that had everything but the kitchen sink to entice pregnancy cravings and The Polar Cortex which played on the idea of our intense winter weather as an ice-cream by adding various crunchy flavors to represent, snow, ice and sleet. Our Flavor Gurus Jon and Peter and one other co-worker had the task of trying all of our flavors to determine who the winner would be. Their deliberation was stressful but we were able to taste all of the other team’s flavors while we waited. The Gurus returned and other teams were eliminated until it was our team and the Polar Cortex team left. It was announced that both teams were the winners and that each out us would be getting our flavors created by Ben & Jerry’s and served at our Ben & Jerry’s ice cream socials!

I will let all of you know when and at which Ben & Jerry’s my ice-cream social will be so you can try our new flavor creation.

Scoopalicious is Growing! Welcome, Patrick!

A few months ago, you may have read a great post by our guest blogger Patrick. A while back, when we realized we were letting a bunch of great events in New York pass us by (um, like meeting Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey, for instance), we realized we didn't want these experiences to go to waste. I thought of the people I knew in New York City, and I immediately thought of the enthusiasm and passion of my friend Patrick. Patrick and I have known each other since grade school, and there are few people that I know that seem to love and live life as fully as Patrick. I talked to Tina and we thought it would be a great idea to have him as our Guest Blogger/New York Correspondent. His first (and highly successful) mission? To an event to meet Nutty the Water Skiing Squirrel!)

Fast forward to February, and it looks like we have made the right choice. Patrick has made such an impression on the Ben & Jerry's PR people that he gets invited to Burlington to be a VIP with a bunch of other food bloggers -- just as I did a couple of years back. He's thrilled, replies "yes," packs his bags to spend a few days up north (and props to him for going from cold to colder in this never-ending winter!).

Patrick comes back from his trip with such excitement, and as I look at the blog that Tina and I love dearly, but have so little time to give as much attention to as we'd like, and we realize, we need this energy back -- hopefully to inspire us as well. We officially ask him to be a member of the Scoopalicious team, and he says yes!

We are so excited to welcome Patrick to the Scoopalicious team and look forward welcoming ice cream season with him. Er, um, who are we kidding?! It's always ice cream season.

P.S. You might see this photo popping up more again on this blog, but it's just so Patrick I couldn't resist using it as his introductory photo!

Am I dense? Or is it this recipe?

I hate to come back to this blog on a negative note, but with two kids under three, I don't make a lot of ice cream anymore.

When I do make ice cream, I want it to work.

Twice, I have used chocolate ice cream recipes from Scoop: 125 Specialty Ice Creams from the Nation's Best Creameries and been super frustrated. The ice creams tasted great when I made the base, but they were so darn thick they just spun and spun in the ice cream maker, not getting cold, just attaching to the dasher.

Is it me? Am I doing something wrong? I know I did do one thing wrong this time but I can't imagine it would have been the result of my base refrigerating into one gelatinous blob. My mistake (and yes, I know the saying ab out blaming one's tools, but I also know as a graphic designer, I think they made a poor design mistake...) was that I missed adding the heavy cream at the beginning. Why? Because when they list the first step, they try to be all fancy with their design and bold the first couple of words and first ingredient. It pulls that first ingredient out of the list of other ingredients and combines it with the action...at least it does for me.

I have attached a screen shot from the Amazon preview of one of their other recipes for you to see what I am talking about.

See, don't you miss the cream? Maybe it's me. But to me the design just doesn't work in that way.

But I digress because I did add the cream, albeit later, but that shouldn't make much of a difference because my dear favorite ice cream authors in The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, And More add the heavy cream at the end all the time and they never have gelatinous bases!

The first time I made a chocolate recipe from this book, I looked at the base and I thought it was just too dense. I have a note in the book that I added an extra half cup of both whole milk and heavy cream and it worked out just fine.

However, this time, I thought to myself that maybe it would work, maybe I should give it the benefit of the doubt. Nope. I even tried stopping the churning a couple of times to push the mess back down with a spoon. And you know what happened? The ice cream froze to the side (finally) but ended up freezing too fast that the dasher got stuck and wouldn't turn anymore.

I want to love this book. The concept is great. I just can't see how these recipes made it into the book. Did someone not test them? Did someone leave out some liquid in the typesetting of the book?

Again, maybe it's me. I have taken quite a hiatus but I would like to think ice cream churning is like riding a bike.

I'm interested to see if anyone else feels this way about the book.

And I am sorry, Jackie, your present is to come because I just don't want to give you a solid block of frozen chocolate. In the meantime, you can tell me what your favorite flavor is.